The Warrior and The Princess
by Blimpy87
Summary: AU: Rachel is the Princess of the Kingdom of Lima. When a threat is made against her family she must go into hiding with the tribal women of the forest who's legendary army of Warrios will have to protect her. Note: I began writing this story a years ago but had to stop for some time then forgot my account access. So this is my re-upload, with more added and a few things altered.
1. Chapter 1

The Kingdom of Lima was the center of the Ohio where the Berry family lived and ruled the land. The Berry dynasty had reigned for over 100 years and through this time had fought to keep their kingdom safe from rebels who wished the kingdom be returned to the tyrannical Akron Family who had once ruled Lima with an iron fist. Throughout the time of the Akron rule the people of Lima lived in fear and poverty. Since the Berry Family overthrew the Akron Family the people of the Kingdom of Lima had lived well and flourished. At this current time the head of the family and the king of the land, Hiram Berry, was a great leader, revered by all. He was a stern man with a rough exterior; only his daughter and partner could crack through this tough facade.

His partner and second in charge was Leroy; he had helped Hiram rule the land for over 20 years. He was much softer than Hiram and was known to be a man of great empathy. Together they balanced each other out to create a successful leadership. Together they had also raised a child and heir to the throne. This child they named Rachel and she was known as one of the great beauties of the land.

In Rachel's 17 years she had been groomed with the best education and environment to become the next ruler of the land. However, this meant she had been sheltered for most of her life and rarely went outside the palace walls. Her best friend and closest confidant was her cousin Kurt.

She would also spend time with one of Hiram's young soldiers Finn Hudson when he was in the city walls. Finn was also of noble blood and it had been decided long ago that Finn would marry Rachel once she turned 18 and was a woman of marrying age. He too had been groomed to help Rachel take the throne. Rachel didn't mind Finns company and she knew he was an attractive man, admired by many women in the kingdom. She loved him like a brother but didn't feel as though they shared the passionate overwhelming love she had read about in books. She longed for that kind of love.

But Rachel knew it was her great responsibility to marry Finn and to be ready to step into the role her father occupied whenever the time came, her want for love was secondary to her duty. Still sometimes late at night when she looked out her window onto the town that surrounded the palace walls she longed for freedom from her birthright.

Rachel was pondering these thoughts on this particular night when her father's came into her room with some urgency.

"Father? Papa? What's wrong?" Rachel knew her father's would always knock before they entered but the fact that they hadn't indicated something was amiss.

"Baby girl sit down, we need to talk with you" Leroy softly led his daughter to the bench at the end of her canopy bed as Hiram paced across the room.

"Your father and I have grave concerns for your safety, we have just received word that direct threats have been made by the rebels against you…I don't mean to scare you honey but they seem to have you in their crosshairs and we don't know if its…"

"Papa, they have made threats against us before and it has always been fine" Rachel rationed

Now was Hiram's time to speak and he did not have the gentle tone of his husband "Rachel, this is serious! It is not safe for you here anymore. Not until we find the people making these threats and stop them!"

"Hiram lower your voice." Leroy said trying to calm Hiram; he knew he was only scared for his beautiful daughter.

Hiram took a deep breath and began again "Rachel this threat is more serious than others. It is a tumultuous time and it is too risky to have you here where you are a sitting duck. This palace is too high profile for you right now"

"But father where would I go? How would I leave you and Papa? I won't go just because those rebels are making threats, then they have won!"

Hiram could see his daughter was frightened but she was like him and could never back down from a fight. He walked over to where her and Leroy sat and crouched down, placing his hands on her knees.

"Rachel you are the future of this land, you are the one who will carry on our legacy and make sure the kingdom never returns to the hands of those monsters. That is why we must hide you…just for a little while, somewhere where they won't think to look…"

"But where father?"

Hiram looked at his husband; they both had decided on a place earlier that day but didn't know how their daughter would take it. Leroy, always the mediator decided to take over for Hiram "Rachel, we have a carriage to take you to the Forrest tonight. We have a good strong relationship with the women of the Forrest and we know they can take care of you and we can trust them..."

Rachel stood up sternly at this news, shaking her father's hands off her.

"That tribe of women who live in the forest like Amazons? I don't think that is going to work so well for me. I have seen how they live, they are warriors who live off the land and I am a princess who has no place with them…they will eat me alive"

Rachel had once met the women on the forest when her father's took her on a royal tour. They had visited the women to thank them for their loyalty to the Berry family throughout their reign. The women were a tribe of strong warrior women who had their own hierarchy and traditions and lived independently in the depths of the kingdoms forest past the city walls. They were known for being secretive of their ways and ferocious when attacked. They lived with no men and often took in runaways from other parts of the land. The leader of this tribe was Judy Fabray, whose mother had ruled before her and whose daughter Quinn would one day take over.

"Rachel, don't be silly, Hiram and I know these women can protect you, they have protected the forest outside this land for generations. Furthermore we can trust they will not reveal your location to anyone. It is only temporary…you will be back here with us before you know it"

"Do I even have a choice" Rachel sighed looking defeated.

Hiram walked up to his daughter and put his hands on her shoulders, looking her directly in the eyes

"No"


	2. Chapter 2

Quinn stood in her mother's hut. Arms crossed and with a stern and serious look on her face. Her mother sat at a stool sharpening a blade. Quinn pulled her hand through her tousled shaggy blonde hair and stomped her foot.

"Mother! This has to be the stupidest idea I have ever heard, why are we letting the princess stay here when there is a price on her head and the whole rebel force is out to get her. What if they find out she is here, do you really think we could defend ourselves against such a force?"

Judy Fabray stood up and walked to her daughter grabbing her wrist firmly.

"Quinn these people have allowed us to survive her for generations. Before the Berry family our kind was slaves to the Akron's. The princess is the only heir, without her the dynasty may fall and we will be driven out of our homes and they will destroy us! We must protect the princess because she is our future."

Quinn pulled her arm back from her mother, sick of the lecture she started making her way out of the hut. Before she reached the opening she turned back to her mother, the head of the tribe.

"She won't last a second here she will expect everything and I will give her nothing, not while she remains here endangering the lives of all our people"

"Quinn, I cannot believe the selfishness I am hearing from you. Don't you understand, if she doesn't survive we are all dead anyway."

Quinn hung her head in frustration, on some level she knew her mother was right but she worried for the people she loved.

Her mother spoke, more gently this time, "She will come and you will help her get along, no-one will know she is here and she will be gone before we know it. We must do this Quinn, Hiram is a good leader and he will take care of us"

"Fine mother, but I still think this is a stupid idea"

With that the blonde girl left the hut, giving her mother no more opportunity to speak.

As she walked away from her mother's hut still angry at the impending arrival of the princess Quinn was approached by her two best friends, closest confidants and two of her most trusted and capable fellow warriors, Britney and Santana.

Santana could see her friend was distressed, "So she's really coming huh?"

"Yup" Quinn replied bluntly

Britney bounced around in excitement "I can't wait to meet the princess; I hope she lets me touch her wand!"

"Britney, that's a fairy she's not magical" Quinn replied but stopped when she saw the evil glare she was receiving from Santana.

"Brit's Quinns right but that's ok because you and me make all the magic we need" Santana said this while pulling Britney into a kiss.

As the two lovers continued to make out Quinn just rolled her eyes at the all too familiar sight and walked off to begin getting ready for Warrios training. All the young women in the tribe were Warrios. Fiercely trained warriors charged with the responsibility of protecting the forest land. Quinn was the tribe's best fighter and was in charge keeping to Warrios in line for their commander Sue Sylvester, a harsh but fair leader of the Warrios. She ran a tight ship but because of this the Warrios had managed to keep the forest safe from predators and rebels.

For now most of the Warrios were based in the forest center, so trainings were frequent and intense to ensure the women stayed on their game. Quinn new she had to get all the women to training base quickly or Sue would make them run through formations all night.


	3. Chapter 3

It was 10pm when Rachel began to see the fire light of the Forrest. She had been travelling in the carriage for five hours, as they had to take the back routs to make sure they had not been followed. Only Rachel, her fathers, the carriage driver and her cousin Kurt knew where she was to be. She had asked Kurt to come along for the journey with her as her father's could not risk accompanying their daughter.

"Kurt, what if they hate me? Or worse what if I get them all killed? I cannot be the cause of more bloodshed in this land…" Rachel sighed as she stared at the window at the approaching village.

"Rachel Barbara Berry look at me….you are a kind and generous lady, with killer legs and there is no way they won't all fall in love with you"

Rachel giggled

"Seriously Rach you know they all swing that way here, watch out!"

The two laughed some more and Rachel temporarily forgot her fears. But then sadness grew.

"I am going to miss you Kurt, can't you stay with me?"

"You know I can't Rach…who will look after your fathers" The boy smiled sweetly at his cousin. The pair gave each other a bittersweet smile and hugged as the carriage pulled to a stop.

The carriage drive peeked his head through the back window and huffed "we're her your highness"

Rachel breathed deeply as she surveyed the outside village, which was hardly a village in her mind. She saw huts made out of anything and everything you would expect to find in a forest and although they were impressively large and sturdy looking they did not compare much to her palace. She could see many of the tribe's women approaching the carriage with curiosity in their eyes. They were all so tall and beautiful she thought to herself, as the crowd grew larger.

Rachel suddenly became very conscious of her dress and all she had packed as she looked at the women wearing barely any clothes and what they did wear reminded her of the dress worn by the ancient Greek warriors she had seen in school books. Then she looked down at her flowing white dress and golden armbands and knew she would stick out like a sore thumb.

"Rachel stop your daydreaming you have to go" Kurt gently pushed the scared girl towards the carriage door.

"I will see you in a few weeks once this whole thing blows over" Rachel nodded at the boy and gave him one last hug before making her way out of the carriage.

She was immediately greeted by an older regal looking woman who gave her a small curtsy before saying "welcome your highness, we are so pleased you have arrived safely. I am the leader of this tribe Judy Fabray. We met once before when you were much younger"

Rachel smiled and nodded in response. Even though she usually loved the attention of the crowd at this moment it was all a bit much for her.

But she knew she had to address this group that had formed around her. She began to speak to all the women "I would just like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking me in during this difficult time. I know you are putting yourselves at risk to help me and I will never forget the mercy you have all shown".

The group smiled and gave general comments of "welcome" and "for Lima!"

But one girl caught the eye of the princess. A brooding blonde stood next to Judy looking unimpressed with the Rachel's arrival. Rachel was immediately taken aback by how beautiful this girl was her brown eyes mesmerized the brunette. The two shared an odd moment just staring at one another. The crowd began to disperse when Judy noticed her daughter and the princess's intense stare.

"Oh your highness"

"Ummm…I think out here you could probably just call me Rachel" The short girl told Judy.

"Oh yes. Rachel…this is my daughter Quinn, you two would have met when you were both very young. She is the same age as you and she has offered to help you settle in here"

Quinn visibly rolled her eyes at her mother's lie about her "offering to show the princess around". This was not lost on Rachel as she fidgeted awkwardly with her dress. Judy nudged Quinn with as she stared her down. Quinn gave in and brazenly put her hand out to shake the shorter girls.

Rachel was shocked. No one had ever shook her hand, everyone knew it was formality to curtsy or bow to the royal family. But Rachel took her hand and shook it because she didn't know what else to do.

"Nice to meet you again Princess" Quinn said casually with a cocky self-confidence. Rachel was taken aback. She had never been treated so casually. But she didn't dislike it; she was just confused by it.

"Nice to meet you Quinn I am sorry I don't remember our first encounter but I am pleased I will be getting to know you and you fellow women over these next few weeks…and please call me Rachel"

Quinn smirked a little at the princess's odd way of speaking. She had expected the Princess to be more of a Diva as the rumors went but this girl seemed the opposite. _She must just be tired from the journey I'm sure her divaness will come out soon enough_ Quinn thought.

"Ok princess"

Judy gave her daughter another annoyed nudge and turned to Rachel "now Rachel you and I will meet tonight to discuss some logistical issues of you being here. We will also have a safety briefing with the Warrios tonight. You will be sleeping in one of the single huts next to Quinns and in the morning Quinn will take you through the village and help you understand how it all works here. You will also be given a role in the village tomorrow. Every women here must work for her place"

"Well she is obviously not going to be a Warrior" Quinn quipped looking at the girl's small frame.

Rachel looked confused for a minute then understood and tried to stand taller stretching her body up slightly.

"Well…no we can't have you fighting with us it is too dangerous…but we will find you a role. Does this all sound OK to you your high….I mean Rachel?"

"Yes it sounds completely reasonable Judy"

"Great well come with me then. Quinn we will see you in the morning"

Quinn nodded and began walking away but quickly whipped her head around and said pointedly to Rachel "Better get a good sleep princess tomorrow you are going to work"

Rachel frowned at the girl's sarcastic tone but tried to shake it off.

Why did this Quinn girl dislike her so much? She worried about what tomorrow would bring and dreaded spending it with this girl who seemed to hate her.


	4. Chapter 4

After a long evening of going through all the possible safety issues for the duration on the princesses stay Rachel slipped immediately into a deep sleep. But it seemed like she had only closed her eyes for a moment when she was awoken by a loud banging at her hut door. She looked through blurry vision, momentarily forgetting where she was, it took a moment for her remember why her grand palace bedroom had been replaced by a small rural hut. Upon coming to her senses she let out a long moan and threw her head back on the pillow. Just then her hut door flew open.

"Come on Princess, time to get up"

Quinn stood on the other side of the door, left eyebrow perked up high on her forehead, failing at looking disinterested with an evil grin sneaking onto her face.

Rachel shot up in her bed, suddenly self-conscious about her state of undress; she only wore a short strappy nightgown that usually only her dress maids had seen her in.

"You can't just come in here like that, get out" the brunette squealed.

Quinn rolled her eyes, _suddenly the Diva has emerged_, she thought to herself. Instead of retreating as Rachel had expected Quinn moved further into the hut and dropped a pile of clothing at the foot of the princess' bed.

"You need to blend in, put these on and meet me outside in five" Quinn commanded to the stunned woman. The blonde then swiftly turned on her heels and left, flinging the door closed behind her.

Rachel sat in bed stunned silent, no one had ever treated her this way, no one had ever commanded her other than her fathers and they did so with a loving undertone that Quinn certainly did not posses. After a moment Rachel inspected the clothing at the foot of her bed. There was a skirt made from a rough brown fabric, something the princess had never felt before and immediately disliked. The second piece of clothing was what she quickly identified as a top piece; it was a not entirely unpleasant green color but was fitted and so small it would not cover even the princess' small torso so she assumed there would be a larger garment to place over this piece but all that remained were a pair of sandals. She couldn't be seen in this outfit, _it is entirely unsuitable for a princess of Lima, _she protested in her mind. She looked at the hut door, picturing the terrifying blonde on the other side, waiting. She shook her head at what she was about to do and quickly grabbed the clothing and began changing.

Outside the hut Quinn tapped her foot as she waited impatiently. It had only been a couple of minutes but the blonde was over this day before she had even woken up. She hated that she would be spending it dealing with this princess rather than training with her friends. She really began seething when she saw the group of Warrios heading down to the lake for their morning water training. She turned when she heard the hut door creek open breaking her angry internal monologue.

The small brunette self consciously emerged from the hut in the outfit Quinn had placed out, it was in fact the standard dress of most of the women in the forest, but Quinn could not help being taken aback by the site. She chalked this up to the fact that the princess just looked so different from when she had seen her yesterday. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail; fringe falling just above her eyes, and her flowing dress was now replaced by figure hugging material that left much of the shorter girls tanned skin exposed. Quinn smiled without conscious control but then instantly caught herself doing this and turned back to a signature stone cold glare.

"Took you long enough princess," she snarled.

"You said five minutes and I was no longer than four" Rachel retorted.

" And please stop calling me princess…just Rachel is fine" she added.

"Whatever Princess, I'm going to show you around, try and keep up" Quinn said dismissively as she began walking towards the village center.

Rachel scoffed and then, without any other option, began following the blonde who was indeed walking very quickly.

They reached a group of tribes women sitting around the smoldering fire from the evening before. The women chatted excitedly to one another while spooning what appeared to be porridge into their mouths or chewing on pieces of fruit. The group fell silent as they saw the princess approach. Even though the women were dressed similarly to her she still felt self conscious about the way she looked and her arms fell instinctively in front of her exposed midriff. Quinn saw this and did feel a small pain in her stomach, maybe she felt a little sorry for Rachel. But she shrugged that feeling aside and turned to the women before her.

"Everyone, this is Princess, Princess these are some of our tribeswomen." Quinn began pointing at the individuals in the group.

"This is Mercedes, she is our cook" Rachel nodded at the young girl who gave a genuine and warm smile back.

"This is Tina, she is a medic in the group…." Quinn pointed and introduced the rest of the women who all seemed kind but a little unsettled by Rachel's presence. Quinn continued "These women are who you will be spending your meals with, we do meals in shifts, the Warrios eat earlier in the morning and later in the evening, everyone else eats during the later or earlier shift." Rachel nodded in understanding.

"It's nice to meet you all properly, please just call me Rachel," the brunette said genuinely to the small group.

"Alright, take some fruit and let's keep moving princess" Quinn interrupted, handing Rachel an apple and banana.

"Nice to meet you Rachel" Mercedes called out sympathetically as Rachel was dragged away.

Rachel stumbled trying to keep up with the blonde who was now walking up a steep hill. They reached the top of the hill a few minutes later and by that point Rachel, was beginning to sweat and breath heavily. It was not that Rachel was not fit, she participated in a rigid regime of exercise at the palace, but Quinn had all but sprinted up this hill at a pace that Rachel was just not prepared for. Rachel got the distinct feeling that Quinn was purposefully making this as difficult as possible. Looking out around the hill Rachel saw it gave a pretty good view of the small village, Quinn immediately began racing through a list of places and procedures while vaguely gesturing to various points within site. After another couple of minutes Quinn put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips.

"Any questions?" she asked dryly.

Rachel had no idea what the blonde had just ranted about, the content moved too quickly for Rachel to absorb anything she was hearing. Looking out at the village Rachel new she had only one question.

"Why do you not like me?"

Quinn seemed taken aback by the question, her stern glare faltering for a moment.

"Have I done something to offend you, or are you just this mean to everyone?" Rachel continued to enquire, a genuinely inquisitive look on her face.

"Listen Princess" Quinn snapped back into defensive mode "I'm not going to pretend like I want you here, it is my job to look after this village and at the moment you are its biggest threat. However, my mother still rules this land and so I will obey her and put up with you staying here and endangering the lives of these people that I care about but I am not going to pretend to like it. So after I show you around today I'll stay out of your way and you better stay the hell out of mine"

Rachel's face grew red, she understood it was a risk for all the women here that they take her in but nothing excused the way Quinn was speaking to her. Rachel was still royalty even out in this forest, and no one spoke that way to a princess.

Quinn saw Rachel's face change into an even sterner face than her own, the brunettes posture grew straighter as she stepped towards the blonde. Quinn looked surprised at Rachel's sudden assertiveness.

"I think you are forgetting your place Quinn, even in this godforsaken place I am a member of the royal family who rules this land and I will one day be the one who rules over your insignificant self"

Quinn began fuming; nobody referred to her or her village that way. White-hot anger began taking her over as she got in the shorter girls face.

"I would rather be ruled over by the rebels than by a selfish big nosed midget of a princess like you, I hope your fathers are overthrown before you have a chance to take rule of Lima"

Suddenly Quinn felt a sharp pain across her face. It took Quinn a moment to realize she had been slapped, hard. Rachel appeared even more shocked than Quinn at what she had done. They both stood frozen for a moment, the blonde made the next move, shoving the smaller girl to the ground. The two began fighting for dominance, rolling around, each trying to push the other back into the hard ground. Quinn was surprised at how strong the princess was for her size, but she was still not match for Quinn who eventually got the upper hand and pushed the smaller girl roughly on her back but before she had a chance to do any further damage she felt strong hands pulling her back.

It was Brittany and Santana, one on either side of her pulling her to her feet and away from the princess. The entire group of Warrios, who all wore a confused and concerned look on their faces, were now surrounded the brawling women.

"Quinn what the hell are you doing!" Santana asked

Quinn looked around, what was she doing?

She looked down at Rachel, who had somehow during the scuffle acquired a bleeding lip and was looking around with equal confusion on her face.

"What is going on here!" a booming voice now took over from Quinn's thoughts.

She went pale as the sea of people that had formed now parted, revealing her mother storming towards the front of the group.

Judy surveyed the scene, growing increasingly aggravated. She looked down at the bleeding princess and to her daughter who looked disheveled and was still being held on either side by her best friends.

"You two take her highness to see Tina" Judy coldly commanded Brittany and Santana.

"Quinn, you're coming with me" Quinn flinched at her mother's tone.

Rachel stood up and wiped her face.

"Judy this was just a misunderstanding, I was out of line and we just got carried away"

Quinn was shocked with Rachel's defense of her actions, Judy too seemed impressed by the gesture, seeing this just made Quinn angry again.

"Rachel, I know my daughter and if this wasn't her doing then the sky isn't blue. Please go see the medic and try and forgive us all for this incident."

Rachel tried to speak again but Judy gave her a pleading look to leave. Brittany and Santana began leading her down the hill.

"Everyone get back to what you were doing, shows over" Judy commanded the audience of Warrios

Turning back to her pouting daughter Judy growled "my hut, right now!"


	5. Chapter 5

Rachel trailed a step behind the two warriors who seemed to forget she was there for a moment while they intertwined their fingers and giggled. Immediately Rachel recognized that these two were probably lovers and she smiled softly to herself at how sweat they looked. For the first since time she had arrived her mind turned to Finn and she frowned.

Remembering their guest Santana separated from Brittany and fell back to stand next to the princess.

"So your highness I see you've met royal pain in the ass Quinn" Santana said lightheartedly

Rachel gave her best attempt at a smile, but it hurt her mouth.

"Please call me Rachel"

" Well in that case I'm Santana and this is Brittany" Santana gestured to the tall blonde, who skipped around the two now in broad circles.

"Hi Rachel, where's your wings?"

Rachel looked confused until Santana explained, softly in Rachel's ear.

"She thinks you're a fairy, just go with it"

Rachel smiled and gave a small kind laugh.

"is she always like that?" Rachel enquired

"Who Brits?" Santana asked

"No Quinn, she's got a screw lose or something right?"

At this Santana stopped and looked at Rachel seriously

"Listen, Quinn is my best friend, yeah she's a little crazy sometimes, she has a hot head and can get hella scary but she's the most loyal and caring person I know. She just wants what's best for all of us here; she just wants to protect us. She's like the head bitch around here, next to me of course, but it's because she fights for what she believes in. She just needs to get to believe in you."

"Quinn is just a big softy in a hard turtle shell" Brittany chimed in.

"Yeah well it felt like a pretty hard shell when she was shoving me into the ground" Rachel scoffed.

Santana and Brittany laughed and continued leading the way to the medic hut.

"Come on short stack let's get you fixed up" Santana joked.

Rachel didn't care for this nickname much but it was said with a friendly tone she appreciated so she let it go.

Meanwhile, at Judy Fabray's Hut….

"Quinn Fabray I should banish you from these lands for what you have done" Judy was scolding her daughter who stood arms crossed and defiant.

"She started it, she has no respect for this place or for me!" Quinn fumed.

"I have no respect for you Quinn! You are acting like a child!" Judy yelled. Fed up with her daughter's antics.

"You are a Warrio, you are next in line to rule this place and you are coming up to your year of marriage, and yet you insist on acting like a child. And to be fighting the princess?! Who even knows what will happen to us if this gets back to the Berry's, do you even realize what you may have done!"

Quinn didn't say anything, she had nothing to say, and she knew her mother was right. She had let her temper get the better of her yet again. She should have just walked away, she knew she was bigger and stronger than Rachel and it wasn't a fair fight.

Quinn tried to change the subject to something she could argue…

"I already told you I do not want to be married next year…it is an archaic tradition"

Judy sighed; she has had this argument with her daughter many times before.

"Quinn, you will one day be the ruler of this forest and in doing so you will take on many responsibilities. You need a partner do share that burden. If you want to take over from my place one day you will marry."

"You're not married, you do just fine!" Quinn argued, but immediately regretted her comment as soon as it left her mouth

"Yes Quinn, I do fine. After your mother died, I did fine but do you know how much harder it has been for me since she has been gone. When I began my rule she was with us and it was better than just fine. Don't you want a life better than fine?"

Quinn hung her head in shame, she knew her mother had struggled when her other mother had been killed. Quinn was only a little girl and could hardly even remember her other mother, she just remembers Judy's sadness. She knew bringing this up was a cheap shot.

"Mother, I'm sorry I didn't mean to…"

"Quinn, just go…I've had about all I can handle of you today" Judy interrupted, sounding defeated by the argument.

Quinn understood it was time to go; she turned to leave when her mother spoke to her one last time.

"Oh and you better be on your way to apologize to the princess…on your hands and knees if you have to Quinn"

Quinn rolled her eyes and begrudgingly went to find the princess.


	6. Chapter 6

When Quinn finally found Rachel, she was sitting with Tina who was berating her with questions about her royal life

"What are your fathers like...do they, like, give you anything you want? Do you have a pony?" Tina interrogated.

"Umm I have a couple of horses I ride I guess…" Rachel answered back, trying not to sound like a princess stereotype. She looked slightly uncomfortable sitting on the makeshift medic bed. Her cut had been cleaned and now there was just a small red line across her bottom lip. Even though her wounds were relatively superficial Quinn did feel guilty for causing them.

Quinn cleared her throat to let her presence be known. Tina startled slightly and Rachel just averted her eyes, she didn't know if Quinn had come to yell at her some more and she didn't want to start anything up.

"Hi Tina, could you give Rachel and I a minute." Rachel looked up at hearing her name, it sounded strange coming out of Quinn's mouth and she realized this was because this was the first time Quinn had actually used her name, not just calling her princess.

Tina nodded and silently left the room.

Quinn looked at Rachel and bit her bottom lip. Rachel was lost for a moment in the cuteness of this before she began feeling uncomfortable under Quinn's stare and started shifting nervously on the bed she sat on. Quinn could sense she was uncomfortable so she took a seat on a stool opposite Rachel.

"Does it hurt?" Quinn asked genuinely looking at Rachel' bottom lip.

"It's fine" Rachel said quickly, not wanting to appear weak.

Another awkward moment of silence went by.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said those things and I shouldn't have gotten physical with you." Quinn started.

Rachel went to interrupt her with her own apology but Quinn continued, "No it wasn't right, I'm bigger and stronger than you and I should have walked away…"

At this Rachel looked offended. She jumped straight up and began speaking very quickly and in a high pitched tone Quinn had not heard before…

"Hey! I am not that small and I'll have you know that I can fight, I have been trained by some of the best fighter in the land of Lima and I am strong and I slapped you first remember..."

Quinn began to smile; she found this whole performance of bravado from this tiny princess quite amusing and kind of endearing. She thought she might play along.

"Hey, you're right you did slap me first, you should be apologizing to me!" Quinn said in a put on frustrated tone.

This really got Rachel worked up "Apologize to you?! After what you said to me! In your dreams Quinn Fabray!?"

Quinn loved how easy it was to push Rachel's buttons, so she decided to keep pushing.

"Well you should at least write to apologize to those who trained you because you fight like a girl princess!"

"Yeah well you smell like a boy Fabray!" Rachel quipped.

Quinn just looked stunned at this quick remark as Rachel walked straight out of the hut they were in.

With a confused look Quinn tried to register what had just happened, she quickly sniffed herself, _I don't smell that bad _she thought. Then promptly left to chase after the princess.

As she left the hut Quinn was in a better mood than earlier, this light banter with Rachel had actually cheered her up. But looking ahead at the fuming Rachel she could see it had not had that affect on the brunette.

"Hey princess! Wait up"

Rachel kept walking as thought she couldn't hear Quinn. She had no idea where she was going she just knew she was not going to turn around. But then she felt a hand on her shoulder spinning her back.

"Tours not over princess" Quinn said with a smirk.

"Oh yes it is" Rachel said defiantly.

"Look, I'm sorry OK. I'm sorry I'm a terrible person and I am a total bitch but I have come to the realization that it might just be better for both of us if we can be civil to one another while you have to be here"

"How generous of you" Rachel said sarcastically.

"Fine, I tried. You are coming with me and you are going to be put to work" Quinn said, her temper beginning to rise again.

"I will not be told what to do by you Quinn Fabray" Rachel pushed past Quinn and kept walking.

"Oh yes you will" Quinn protested while following the shorter girl.

"You stay here you work, that was the deal"

Rachel continued to ignore her and just kept storming off, nowhere in particular.

"What little precious princess doesn't know how to work, huh?" Quinn said in her best imitation of a whiny Childs voice. This stopped Rachel dead in her tracts. She hated more than anything being called precious or being told she couldn't do something because she was a princess. So she marched back up to Quinn proudly.

"Ok Quinn Fabray put me to work"


	7. Chapter 7

Rachel stared in awe of the giant pile of rubble and dirt in front of her. It must have weighed a tone. And sitting next to it laid a single shovel.

"You want me to shovel all this dirt from here to there" Rachel pointed 100 meters down the path.

Quinn picked up the shovel and handed it to Rachel.

"Yup" Quinn stated

"Think you can handle that princess"

Rachel, put on her best fake confident face and said "Not a problem"

It was a rigged task. Quinn knew Rachel couldn't shovel all that dirt by herself, hell she couldn't even do it all by herself. But this was the task the tribe gave any girl who wanted to join the tribe, to teach them a lesson on authority and discipline. It was like a rite of passage, but Rachel didn't know that. Also, Quinn's mother had not approved of the princess being put through this test but Quinn just couldn't resist.

"See you in a few hours princess" Quinn said with a smirk and she swiftly left Rachel to go join the afternoon of Warrios' training.

Rachel looked at the pile and then at her shovel.

"You can do this," she said to no one in particular.

With that she got to work.

It was ok at first. She was doing pretty well at the start. But then after an hour or so her back started hurting. Then after an hour more her hands became raw and her knees got weak. After the third and fourth hour passed she started breaking down physically and emotionally. Her mind began wondering:

_Why am I here?_

_I am a princess; I should be in my palace with my fathers_

_Oh god I miss my fathers and Kurt_

_I can't believe I'm stuck here for god knows how long with that crazy person Quinn Fabray…. I hate Quinn Fabray!_

_I hate this place!_

_I want to go home!_

Then she felt it, big thick drops of rain began falling on her head and before she knew it there was a down poor. In way she was thankful, the rain was hiding the tears now streaming from her face. The dirt turned to mud and became almost impossible to move, but for some reason she just became more determined, she felt like the only thing she could control was moving this mud and so she would, she would move it all.

Then she heard someone yelling out her name. It was Quinn. Rachel didn't even look up. She just kept moving the mud.

Quinn looked across at Rachel, soaked trough and covered in mud. She looked at the work she had done and was actually impressed with how much the girl had gotten through and that she was still going through this storm.

"Rachel!" she yelled over the pounding of the rain.

"Rachel come on, leave it! That's enough!"

Rachel kept ignoring her, she couldn't stop, and if she stopped Quinn would see the tears streaming down her face, if she stopped Quinn would see how she had broken her. She just kept digging.

"Rachel, OK you've proven your point! Come back to the huts now, you need to get out of this storm!" Quinn continued to yell through the rain but Rachel just kept going.

Seeing no other option Quinn walked up to the shorter girl and pulled the shovel out of her hands.

"Rachel I said that's enough"

Now Quinn stood face to face with Rachel, both soaking wet staring at one another. For the first time Quinn could see that Rachel was crying.

"Hey are you OK?" She asked sincerely

"What do you think?!" Rachel snapped back.

Quinn opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"You think I want to be here, you think I wanted to leave my family and come to this place and hide?!" Rachel spat out.

"I don't like this any more than you Quinn!" the shorter girl continued, she was now visibly shaking.

Quinn was speechless, she could feel the raw emotion in Rachel's voice and she knew she had pushed the girl to far. She hadn't even taken into account what Rachel must have been going through having to leave her family and come here.

Then the most surprising thing happened, Rachel lent forward and placed her head to the taller girls chest. Quinn was shocked, wasn't she upset with her; _maybe she just needs comfort _Quinn thought.

Comfort giving was not Quinn's forte but she had to do something so she awkwardly began patting the smaller girls head. Rachel just kept crying on her shoulder and eventually Quinn eased into a kind of hug…that slowly became a real hug.

So there they were, a Princess and A Warrior hugging in the rain.


	8. Chapter 8

Eventually the rain cleared and Rachel still stood in Quinn's arms. Quinn couldn't hear the shorter girl crying any more, she could only feel the odd jerking movement of a hiccup against her chest. Now with the pelting rain gone the silence between the two became more obvious.

Rachel pulled away awkwardly wiping her tear stained face and refusing to look the blonde in the eyes.

"I'm….I'm sorry….I don't know what came over me," Rachel fumbled out.

"Don't worry about it OK," Quinn said while placing her hand on the brunettes shoulder.

"I've given you a pretty crappy day" Quinn gave a small smile to show her sincerity.

Rachel just nodded and wiped another tear from under her eye.

"C'mon we should start heading back, it's getting late," Quinn suggested while gesturing back towards the main part of the village.

"Can we just stay here a while? I don't want them all to see me like this" Rachel asked while looking down at herself.

Quinn noted the girl did look like a mess. Still covered in some mud, though the rain had washed most of it away, still soaking wet and her eyes were clearly red and puffy from crying. But the blonde also knew if they stayed out here they would get sick from the cold and wet. She had an idea.

"Come with me," Quinn commanded as she took off down a path leading away from the village "I know a place," she assured the girl.

After hiking up a small hill the two woman reached the mouth of a shallow cave. It was well hidden from anyone not standing directly in front of it. It faced away from the village and strange rock formations obscured much of the view of its opening. Rachel hesitated when she saw Quinn go inside.

"There aren't any bears in here are there?" she called after the blonde

Quinn rolled her eyes, "It's too shallow a cave for bears"

Rachel looked unconvinced.

"I come here all the time Princess, don't be such a chicken" Quinn jested.

Rachel gingerly stepped into the cave. Once inside she was surprised by how not scary it was. It looked like someone could be living here. There was a kind of makeshift bed, with a thin hay filled mattress and some blankets on top, a pot and cup sat on a ledge which had formed naturally in the rock wall and a small fire pit had been formed in the centre of the cave near the opening.

Quinn was already getting to work on the fire, using materials out of a wooden box she had pulled from the corner of the room.

"What is this place?" Rachel asked in wonder.

"I found this cave when I was a kid, it was my secret hide out" Quinn said while tending to the fire, which was now starting to smoke.

Rachel smiled at the thought of a little Quinn exploring the forest and making secret hideaways.

"I still come here, when I jfeel like getting some space," Quinn continued.

Now the fire was starting to catch, Quinn got up and grabbed a blanket from the bed passing it to the shivering brunette and gesturing for her to sit in front of the fire.

"No one else knows about this place, so you better not tell anyone about it Princess" Quinn instructed, partially in jest.

"Well I feel honored you have shared it with me, it is all rather cute Quinn" Rachel smirked taking her seat by the fire.

"Hey I'm not cute, I'm tough, I'm a Warrio, this place is hard core," Quinn protested, gesturing to her surroundings.

Rachel just giggled. Quinn made herself look even cutter and more innocent, trying to defend her toughness.

The blonde could see she was losing this argument so she gave up and sat down on the other side of the fire with her own blanket.

"You know we're not that different you and I," Rachel said after a few moments of silence.

"What do you mean?" Quinn asked with a surprised tone.

Rachel shifted in her place, hoping what she was going to say wouldn't offend the touchy girl.

"Well, we are both charged with this incredible responsibility. We have been groomed since birth to one day govern a people. One day we will be in our parents positions…rulers of a land….probably at the same time, I mean we'll probably have to work together, like our parents do." Rachel rambled.

Quinn stared into the fire. Thinking about what Rachel was saying. She had never thought about it that way.

"Yeah I guess you're right" the blonde stated, eyes still fixed on the flames of the fire.

The two sat in silence for a little while longer, each enjoying the warmth of the fire and getting lost in the flickering light.

"I had another mother," Quinn said, seemingly out of nowhere. Rachel looked at her quizzically.

Quinn continued, "She was killed."

Rachel looked at the blonde sympathetically, Quinn just continued to stare straight into the fire.

"She was killed, defending your fathers"

"What, I never…" Rachel interjected but Quinn continued, "Your fathers needed an escort through the forest and my mother and some other tribeswomen had volunteered, they were ambushed…and she was killed."

"Quinn, I didn't know" Rachel tried to explain. But Quinn just kept staring into the fire.

Eventually the blonde took a stick and prodded a log on the fire, "Don't worry about it, I was only three I barely remember her anyway," Quinn said in the best unaffected voice she could manage.

Rachel frowned, she knew Quinn was just trying to hide her emotions. Of course it would have effected Quinn, of course Quinn would be hesitant to have Rachel stay with the tribe. The last time the tribes women protected the royal family her mother had been killed. Rachel understood this was Quinn's way of explaining her actions over the past two days and Rachel appreciated the gesture. But was saddened to hear the reason, it made her feel sick thinking about someone's mother dying so that she might have both her fathers.

"My father's never told me that" Rachel said softly.

Quinn just nodded her head, she had figured as much already.

Silence filled the cave once again, and Quinn felt her clothes were now almost dry on her body.

"I guess we should start heading back, people will be wondering where we are" Quinn said beginning to smolder the fire.

"Yeah I guess," Rachel agreed, still lost in her thoughts.

The two women gathered their things to leave.

As they walked out of the cave Rachel turned to Quinn, "Thank you for showing me your secret Quinn," Rachel said, then she reached up and gave Quinn a soft kiss on the cheek before turning and walking back towards the village.

Quinn didn't know what secret Rachel was really thanking her for, maybe she just meant the cave, but it felt like more. She put her hand to her cheek, her face felt like it was buzzing with warmth. She also noticed her stomach felt uneasy, but not unpleasant. She looked forward at the girl a few paces in front of her and then it hit her…what this feeling was and all she could think was…_oh crap _

_Thank you for all your reviews so far. Glad you're enjoying it :)_


	9. Chapter 9

The next few days passed by quickly for the princess and Quinn. Rachel had been assigned to help out Tina in the medic hut; the princess had gained useful knowledge for this task due to her teachings in biology and anatomy with the palace tutors. She liked the work and she didn't mind Tina's company either.

Although the tribeswomen still had some trouble treating Rachel like she was one of them and not royalty, upon Rachel's own insistence, she was starting to become familiar with most of the women. She would spend her days with Tina in the medic hut and have chit chat with any of the tribeswomen coming through, many of whom were Worrios with scratches and bruises from the days training.

During lunch her and Tina would sit with Mercedes and Rachel would listen as the two told her gossip from around the village. She had learnt that Brittany and Santana often snuck off to the lake to go skinny-dipping during Warrio training when Sue wasn't watching. She learnt that a few others of the tribe's women would sneak to the city once a month, get into townspeople clothes and have some fun. She also heard that Quinn had a bit of a reputation as a seducer, but was resisting choosing a woman to become her wife, a role many of the tribeswomen were vying for. Rachel figured Quinn was lucky, even if she couldn't chose when she married at least she could chose who she married.

Rachel felt an odd dull pain in the pit of her stomach when she heard these stories of Quinn, she didn't like thinking of Quinn being clawed at by these women who only wanted her for the position she held. Although, Rachel also knew these women would probably want Quinn anyway as she was beautiful, kind and smart.

Rachel was getting to know Quinn quite well. Even though the two did not have much time to spend together during the day Quinn would always come find her in the evening and ask her to go on a walk or to sit by the camp fire with her. They would spend hours each night talking about what had happened to them that day, and then they would talk more generally about their lives and how they felt about their futures. Considering their rocky start most of the tribeswomen, especially Judy, were surprised at how the pair had become friends. Some of the women who had had their eye on Quinn for some time didn't like how well the two were getting along.

The two women were sitting by the large campfire one night, on the other side to where most of the other women were sitting. Rachel could see across the fire, a pretty redhead was looking longingly at Quinn.

"What about her" Rachel subtly nodded her head towards the redhead.

"What? Oh Amy, yeah she's OK" Quinn answered nonchalantly.

"I mean what about her for your wife, it looks like she's kind of into you" Rachel whispered.

Quinn was taken aback; Rachel and her had never spoken about Quinn's impending obligation to marry. It was the one subject they had managed to steer clear of and Quinn had hoped to keep it that way. Not only was it her least favorite topic of to speak of but she was also developing feelings for the princess which made it all the more painful to think about her looming marriage to someone who was not Rachel.

Further more, Rachel's suggestion of a woman for Quinn to marry further solidified in the blondes mind that Rachel did not share her feelings. This caused her to sigh, which Rachel took as Quinn's disapproval of the red head woman.

"OK, not her then" Rachel said cheerily, scanning the crowd for someone else.

"Princess I have no interest in marrying any of these women, I have no interest in marriage at all" Quinn said dejectedly.

"Well from what I hear that hasn't stopped you from trying out some willing candidates" Rachel said rather pointedly.

The brunette had no idea why she had said this, it was almost as though she was jealous. But she shrugged it off as just being frustrated with Quinn's attitude.

Quinn was also surprised by Rachel's statement.

"Excuse me?" she said as she put her hand to her chest looking offended, in an over the top half joking manner.

"Oh nothing, I mean I just heard that you date sometimes…" Rachel tried to back pedal.

Quinn rolled her eyes. She hated the village gossip and she hated even more that Rachel was taking part in it.

"Listen, Rachel I'm not a saint. Yeah I've been with some women, but I mean, I'm going to be married off to someone I probably won't even love when I'm 18 years old. From then on it's over for me. You have no idea what that pressure feels like" Quinn said softly.

Rachel wanted to respond and tell Quinn she knew exactly what she felt like, that she had a boy she didn't love she would have to marry when she was 18 also. She knew exactly how Quinn felt. But something stopped her, she didn't want to tell Quinn about Finn, for whatever reason she just couldn't bring herself to bring him up. So instead she put her head on Quinn's shoulder and wrapped her arm around the blonde girls back and said, "I'm sorry Quinn, that must be really hard for you."

And that was the end of that conversation. They didn't even notice the redhead glaring at Rachel now.

* * *

It was during a routine Warrio training exercise that Quinn hurt her knee. She had a bad knee since she fell out of a tree when she was 12 and it was not the first time this had happened.

"Alright S and B, you know the drill. Get Q to the medic then get back here stat!" Sue barked as she looked down at the injured Warrio clutching her leg on the ground, trying not to scream.

Santana and Brittany didn't hesitate. They helped Quinn to her feet, letting her wrap an arm around each of them and the three of them slowly moved towards the medic hut. They hobbled through the hut door to find Rachel folding bandages by herself. She turned when she heard the trio enter and immediately looked concerned.

"Quinn what happened" the shorter girl asked in a panic.

Quinn went to explain but was interrupted by Santana.

"Calm down Berry, she just needs her bad knee strapped."

Brittany and Santana lowered Quinn down onto a chair.

Rachel rolled her eyes at Santana's tone and went over to Quinn looking her in the eyes, "Are you OK Quinn" she asked stroking the girls arm.

"I'm fine, really, just strap me up and I'll be on my way" Quinn respond, trying to play down her injury.

Meanwhile Brittany and Santana took a seat on the nearby bed took this opportunity to make out. This made Rachel cringe at first but then she decided to ignore them and continued getting the strapping ready for Quinn. She kneeled down in front of Quinn's chair and took her smooth leg in her hands and delicately straightened the knee.

Quinn fidgeted under the girls touch, "Are you OK Quinn? Am I hurting you?" Rachel asked concerned.

"No it's fine, keep going" Quinn managed to get out.

The truth was it didn't hurt that bad at all, the girl touching her leg was just overwhelming Quinn, it was sending electricity shooting up her thigh. The blonde bit her lip trying to distract herself from these feelings. As Rachel started strapping her knee and her hand crept higher up the blondes leg and Quinn tried to hide her growing arousal.

Fortunately for Quinn the Rachel was so engrossed in her task she didn't appear to notice the effect she was having on the blonde. Unfortunately for Quinn two other people had noticed.

"OK all done, do you want to try and stand?" Rachel asked innocently, hands still sitting on top of Quinn's bare thigh just bellow the hem of her skirt.

Quinn nodded her head and Rachel stood up to help the taller girl. Once up and moving Quinn thanked Rachel with an awkward handshake and nearly ran out the door, which was more of a hobble really. Once outside Santana and Brittany who now both wore matching mischievous smiles followed her.

"Quinn's got a crush" Brittany sang to Quinn's horror.

"Brittany I what are you talking about" Quinn sputtered out.

"Oh don't even try it Q, we saw you all hot and heavy under Berry's touch. You totally want to hit that" Santana teased.

"God Santana I do not want to 'hit that', don't talk about Rachel that way!" Quinn stated in frustration, picking up her pace as best she could with her bad knee.

Santana looked at her friend in disbelief. She went to stand in front of the blonde so that she had to stop on the narrow path. Brittany joined Santana's side.

"Quinn Fabray, please do not tell me you are falling for the Princess of Lima" Santana said crossing her arms.

Quinn just huffed and looked to the side, anything to avoid looking into Santana's eyes. Santana knew Quinn's guilty look meant she was right.

"Quinn! You cannot be falling for her, she is the one person in this god damn place you just cannot end up with, so get whatever little fantasy you have in your head right out of there." Santana was now moving her arms wildly.

"God, you think I don't know that Santana!" Quinn said in frustration.

"I'm not going to do anything, it's just a stupid crush and I am going to ignore it. Anyway Rachel doesn't even think of me like that so you don't have to worry." Quinn said pushing past her friends to continue down the path.

Santana felt bad, she had never seen Quinn so torn up over a girl before. She walked after her friend nudging Brittany along.

"OK, so she is kind of hot" Santana stated.

"Excuse me?" Quinn looked at her friend like she had no idea what she was getting at.

"I'm just saying I would understand why you might like totally want to have her babies" Santana explained.

Brittany nodded her head in agreement and added, "plus she's a princess and that's totally cool."

Quinn still looked just as confused.

"All I'm saying is" Santana continued "even though you know your mother will burn you at the stake if you run away with the princess of lima, if you really like her Brits and I could maybe help you get some time alone with her"

Quinn smiled wide. She had the best friends in the world.

"Do you think I've got a shot?" Quinn asked hopefully "…even though it is a terrible idea" she added stern faced.

"Well, even though it is a totally bonkers idea" Santana said with an equally stern expression, "she did have her hand on your thigh a bit longer than necessary, right Brits?" Santana asked while breaking into a smirk.

"Oh she totally has love heart eyes for you Quinn" Brittany confirmed.

The three girls laughed together and made their way back towards the Warrio training.

Quinn knew her feelings for Rachel were wrong and they could never be together even if Rachel felt the same way but it was nice to know her friends loved her enough that they could ignore all these facts just to help her be happy.


End file.
